


The Interim Solution

by Just_Another_Day



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Arranged Marriage, Drama, Hate, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Scheming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 05:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_Another_Day/pseuds/Just_Another_Day
Summary: Damianos held his hand out in offer, as if he legitimately thought there was the slightest chance that Laurent would willingly grasp it. He was lucky that Laurent didn't slap that hand away from himself.





	The Interim Solution

Damianos held his hand out in offer, as if he legitimately thought there was the slightest chance that Laurent would willingly grasp it. He was lucky that Laurent didn't slap that hand away from himself. Only Laurent's awareness of the servants who were not-so-covertly watching the two of them from down the other end of the hallway stopped Laurent from doing so. Laurent was convinced that he could manipulate the pride of a man like Damianos so that he would be too embarrassed to run complaining to his father when Laurent behaved and spoke with hostility, especially given how Laurent had so far observed that Damianos seemed to believe that Laurent was no real threat to him (and oh how Laurent dearly wished that he could afford to prove that supposition wrong right then). But Laurent couldn't be equally certain that he could control the tongues of the people who Theomedes had sent to spy on the 'foreign snake' in their midst. Assuming, of course, that the leader of a nation of barbarians was actually smart enough to have _purposely_ put those servants in a position to keep watch over Laurent and ordered them to report to him. 

Laurent doubted that somehow, but he couldn't yet be entirely certain, having never spoken directly to the man. This deal had been struck through letters and diplomatic representatives. Otherwise they'd likely have never come to an accord.

"You know, you're going to have to touch me eventually if you want this to work," Damianos said. "There's an entire hand-clasping aspect required as part of the ceremony itself. And then later..."

Laurent grimaced. He didn't want to consider _that_. Not until there was no other choice. "You might be a future king –"

"And your future husband."

Laurent pointedly ignored the interruption. "– but be aware that I don't care about your title. It doesn't impress me, or make me cower in fear. So know that, Prince or not, I won't hesitate to remove each and every one of your body parts that touch me without my express permission, in a more painful manner than your pitiful excuse for an imagination could ever devise."

"If my father heard you making such threats, he'd nullify this arrangement in an instant," Damianos warned.

Obviously. Which was why Laurent was expressing it now, while a long hallway and a progression of rooms still separated them from the King of Akielos. "Are you going to tell him and doom your people to another war against Vere over a few hurt feelings?" Laurent challenged mockingly.

Damianos had the gall to look almost amused. "You know, I'd hoped you might be more reasonable, like your brother. But you really aren't much like him at all."

Laurent had to bite back the onslaught of foul words that threatened to break loose at hearing Damianos speaking of Auguste so casually. And as true as it might have been, it only further angered Laurent that Damianos thought he was in a position to know enough about both Laurent and Auguste to be so certain that they were different. He'd only known either of them for just long enough to end one of their lives and ruin the other.

"My brother at least bore no particular ill will towards you, even as he was fighting with you to the death. It's true that I'm very different from him in that respect." And there were many other pertinent dissimilarities that Laurent didn't bother to voice, such as how if Auguste had wanted to kill Damianos, he would have first announced a formal challenge and waited for the man to be armed and ready to defend himself. After what Damianos had done, Laurent had no intention of operating under those same scruples. For now the surety of his own destruction if he acted was stopping him, but the fact that he hadn't drawn his sword on Damianos yet didn't mean that he wasn't sorely tempted, or that he never would. Laurent knew that his time would come eventually. And he'd be in the ideal position to act when it did. Everything else would be worth it in exchange for that, and for surviving long enough to make it to that point.

"The whole purpose of this arrangement was to resolve the resentment between our kingdoms and eventually join them together, not to add fuel to the fire," Damianos reminded him. 

No, Laurent silently corrected, the point had been for Laurent to escape from Uncle's increasingly frequent attempts to have Laurent killed as his majority fast approached, as well as to gain influence over an army larger than the one Uncle controlled. Laurent had tried every other option available to him, but in the end he'd fallen back onto this. And admittedly the promise of proximity to the man who'd killed Laurent's brother, which Laurent could use against Damianos once Laurent had achieved everything else he needed to do, had been the garnish that had ultimately convinced Laurent that it would be worthwhile to make the proposition: combining their kingdoms through marriage in exchange for Akielos removing his Uncle from power for him. It had been too much for Theomedes to pass up, since he clearly thought that Laurent was going to be rendered powerless and was in effect just handing Vere over to them. He was underestimating Laurent even more than Damianos seemed to be. He would regret that in time.

"This will be easier for us both if you don't act as though I've tied you to the back of my horse and kidnapped you," said Damianos. "Or have you forgotten that you arrived here of your own accord?"

"My own accord," Laurent repeated flatly. "Trust an Akielon slave-owner not to recognise that not all chains are as visible and obvious as thick rings of iron." 

Laurent was glad to see that Damianos's half-smile had by that point turned strained. "I'm not forcing you to do this," Damianos claimed. 

As if Laurent would really be here, preparing to submit himself to bending over for his brother's killer and to enduring whatever Akielon savagery this man and his countrymen would enact on him, if he had any real choice in the matter. 

"If that's the lie you want to tell yourself," Laurent said, "then I can hardly stop you."

Damianos was full-on frowning then. Good. At least Laurent wasn't the only one who might have to experience some misery from this situation.

That made it slightly better, somehow.

"And now that that's cleared up between us," Laurent continued dryly, "I believe we're about to be late for our own wedding. Shall we go, _husband_?"

Apparently Damianos was a slow learner, for he offered a limb for Laurent to grasp a second time, though this time it was his elbow rather than his hand. Laurent actually did take it this time.

Laurent made a point of squeezing hard enough to hurt, his nails digging into bare skin. Damianos pretended he didn't feel any pain from it, but Laurent could feel the muscles tense under his hand.

One day he would cause Damianos of Akielos far more hurt than that, Laurent promised himself. 

And in the meantime, he could bear this. He could bear almost anything to get what he wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like it would be interesting to see Damen's PoV on the background of this, because I feel like there must have been a lot going on between him and Theomedes to get him to seemingly just accept his part in this situation.
> 
> I mean, that, or Damen just heard that Laurent was a hot snarky blond and jumped at the chance. Hard to know with him.


End file.
